Hackers Use Apple’s Siri To Spy On Cell Phone Users

Siri can now be hacked at a distance by radio waves. This hack can expose sensitive information stored on the victim’s mobile computer device. A team of researches from the French government, known as ANSSI, discovered at performed the hacks. Android and iphone users are vulnerable to the attack.

“the hack is accomplished by using a radio transmitter to tap into a pair of headphones with integrated microphone plugged into the mobile device, using the headphone cable as an antenna. The researchers exploited its wire to convert surreptitious electromagnetic waves into electrical signals that appear to the phone’s operating system to be audio coming from the user’s microphone. Without speaking a word, a hacker could use that radio attack to tell Siri or Google Now to make calls and send texts, dial the hacker’s number to turn the phone into an eavesdropping device, send the phone’s browser to a malware site, or send spam and phishing messages via email, Facebook, or Twitter. Headphone cables make decent radio antennas, as evidenced by Apple’s use of them to enable FM radio reception on its iPod nano.”

TechWorm also reported that the hack can be done from up to 16 feet away. So if you are any crowded place your cell phone could be vulnerable to someone close by. Fortunately, the french researchers provided a solution that iphone owners can use right now.

Vijay Prabhu from TechWorm describes how to change the phone settings to protect from the hack:

“The only way to protect your iPhone from getting hacked using this method is to disable access to Siri from the lockscreen. You can disable access to Siri by going to Settings >> Touch ID & Passcode scroll down to uncheck Siri under Allow Access When Locked. In the same menu users can also disable access to the Today screen, Notifications View, Reply With Message, and Wallet, if they so choose.

For further security you can also go back to the root Settings menu and choose Control Center and disable Access on Lock Screen. This will prevent a stolen iPhone from being placed into Airplane Mode without turning off the device.”

For Some hacks the victim can see it happening while it’s happening, but this hack can happen without the victim ever knowing. If you are reading this, be proactive and fix the settings on your phone, and do whatever research you can on how to boots your phone’s security.